What inspired you to write your book?
When I first started work on this book concept in 2002 I had the idea that gardens are peerless; that because gardens are so utterly beautiful – so inspiring — it could be said that mother nature is responsible for no less than giving birth to the magic of artistic endeavor.

It was more than the notion that gardens are just pretty to look at or sit in, but indeed, I believe their very essence captivates us and elevates us to create.
Especially artists.

I knew that gardens had been igniting passions and fueling artists from painters to sculpturers to writers and musicians throughout the ages.
And none more so than the culinary artist, because they utilize the garden’s bounty in making their transporting, artisanal signature recipes.
I wanted to further explore the nexus where garden art meets and fuels other art, beginning with the culinary artist.

About your Book:
Told in a rare collection of loving profiles & beautiful color photographs, The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook captures the authentic & delicious homegrown ingredients produced by the artisanal food growers and the majestic land and seascapes that are the romantic hallmarks of the Island’s food culture. Inspired by the terroir and the growers, the book celebrates that distinctive, inspired cuisine and lifestyle — bursting with flavorful recipes from the area’s best locavore chefs.
If cooking, eating, gardening, & entertaining are a obsessive passions, you will delight in the food & drink stories and delicious recipes found in The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook, as it takes you on a private tour of outstanding chefs & artisanal growers that will inspire your homegrown menus for years to come.

Cuisine Style or Food Genre
homegrown, locavore ingredients/Seasonal

Sample Recipe or Food Advice
Use the best, freshest, local ingredients and do as little as possible to them

What formats are your books in
Both

How do you see writing a food/cookbook as different from writing other genres of books?
It is different in that the food stories are not fiction albeit more often dream-inducing. Each story needs to be fresh and unique so that the reader doesn’t see just another chef or tomato recipe. In my book, The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook is a perfect example of this. I didn’t want the reader to get bored, thinking,”OK, they are locavore chefs who follow the seasons and use local ingredients.” Rather the challenge and the intrigue was to bring out what was different and special about each and every chef and their inspired grower. Not easy. I had to dig deep in the interviews and craft the writing so that there was a solid template but peppered with food stories that made the reader want to discover what drives these chefs and growers to go to such extremes to create their food. And the recipes must be tested and presented as bullet-proof so the readers can indeed create the menus as presented. In many ways, though, food/cookbooks do borrow a bit from all other genres — they contain generous ingredients of narrative nonfiction, essay, biography, and fiction, including fantasy, drama, humor, and perhaps poetry carefully mixed and presented. Remember, the eyes eat first!

What advice would you give to someone that is thinking about or currently working on a food book or cookbook
Follow your passion. Know your niche. Research. Write with confidence and curiosity. Recognize that producing a book is art yet a business at the same time and embrace those two elements.

How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I wanted to explore how gardens inspire artists – all artists and started with the culinary artist because they use the bounty of the garden directly in their creations. I wanted to discover how locavore chefs discover inspiration from their growers, farmers, fisherman, dairymen, vintners and artisanal food producers to create seasonal, sustainable, and delicious menus. The book demonstrates the special relationship and respect between the chef and their inspired grower and their relationship to the land and the waters. I wanted to tell those challenging and triumphant stories. I am proud to say my book is published through Quayside Voyageur Press.

Author Bio:
Leeann has worked in restaurants and food catering and cooks with passion, using food ingredients from local NYC Greenmarkets and her herb and farm-ette in the Garden State.

She writes a Food & Drink column for Examiner.com, curating the food spectrum that dazzles and elevates the radical New York food world.

She writes two blogs.
“Master Chefs and their Gardens” chronicles the making of the book, “The Hamptons & Long Island Homegrown Cookbook,” as well as the nexus of garden art and culinary art, food events, lectures, Greenmarkets, growers, cookbook reviews, and food stories.
“Garden Glamour” is the little black dress for gardeners, highlighting best practices, lectures, garden book reviews, romantic and glamorous gardens and insouciant anecdotes about the humbling world of gardening.

Leeann contributed the chapter Public Relations and Marketing Communications to the successful “Public Garden Management: A Complete Guide to the Planning and Administration of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta.”

Garden Specialist and principal of Duchess Designs, LLC, Leeann designs artful, sustainable gardens that tell stories & are endlessly beguiling–in every season. Leeann received a Certificate in Landscape Design from The New York Botanical Garden. She worked at NYBG and was Director of Communications, Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Leeann is an award-winning landscape designer, earning top honors in the first Broadway in Bloom contest. Two Duchess Designs gardens are featured in “Cottages and Mansions of the Jersey Shore.” Several garden designs are highlighted in NJ Design magazine. Leeann has served as judge for the Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest and the New Jersey Flower and Garden Show. Leeann is a member of MetroHort Group, The Garden Writer’s Association, The Horticultural Society of NY, and The Garden Conservancy. Leeann designed The Garden Pendant Collection. She’s written garden book reviews for The Two River Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Leeann nurtures a small rooftop garden at her home in Gotham, and herb, edible and display gardens at her Garden State home.

What inspired you to write your book?
I’m a creative person. I create at my computer, and I create in my kitchen. This book was a natural outgrowth of the combination of my culinary and verbal creativity. In it, I help other home cooks learn to be creative in the kitchen and not rely solely on other people’s recipes but learn to develop their own. For me, developing new recipes is some of the most fun I can have in the kitchen, and I want others to have that fun too.

About your Book:
On beyond learning to be a good cook, how about taking it to the next level and learning how to create your own recipes? When you serve a dish that’s delicious, you share the credit with whoever first developed (created) the recipe. But what if you yourself develop the recipe as well as cooking it to perfection? Really, cooking is a creative process, and for me, much of the fun is in “whomping up” new recipes. Did you ever wonder where new recipes come from? They come from cooks like me…and possibly like you, too. Yes, YOU can create new recipes, whether they’re twists on existing recipes or totally new concepts. Can you think of two ingredients that go together? How about a third? You’re on your way to creating a new recipe. This book demystifies the process. You, too, can be a culinary creator!

Cuisine Style or Food Genre
guide to how to create recipes

Sample Recipe or Food Advice

I cannot list here every happy marriage of flavors, but sometimes two bases combine surprisingly — and surprisingly well — to make a sauce come out tastier than you would have expected. For example, I have developed a couple of dishes that combine organic peanut butter and prepared black beans, with sautéed garlic added for zing, and the results are astounding. By “prepared” black beans I mean ready-to-eat Hispanic-style black beans. I prefer the Goya brand. The ready-to-eat black beans say just that—only in Spanish—on one side of the can, while the label on the other side, in English, identifies the can’s contents somewhat erroneously as “black bean soup.” Soup it is not, by any means, but what it is is delicious… and what else it is is a good base for certain dishes. I use the ready-to-eat black beans as the base of several dishes I developed, including my Twilight Pork. The base of that is, as I said a minute ago, ready-to-eat black beans combined with organic peanut butter and flavored with sautéed garlic.
Peanut butter also marries well with chicken stock (or the less-common pork stock, if you happen to have some on hand). And prepared black beans also blend nicely with either chicken stock or pork stock, as well. Use a small proportion of stock in combination with the beans.
Flavorful cheeses stand up nicely to tomato-based sauces. Parmesan, cheddar, and even swiss cheese are but three of your choices… don’t limit yourself to these, though. Try Colby. Try Monterey Jack. Try others.
In some dishes, a dollop or two of sour cream does wonders for not just improving the texture but the flavor of the sauce. Remember not to freeze a dish with sour cream in it. (You won’t get sick, but the texture and flavor of the dish will be compromised.) And keep this in mind: In most cases, you can successfully substitute plain yogurt for sour cream.
Tomatoes and bleu cheese marry wonderfully, though bleu cheese does not create the same wonderful combination with tomato sauce that it does with tomatoes themselves.
We talked about garlic a minute ago: remember that garlic confers quite a different taste depending on whether you utilize it raw, or sautéed just till it is soft, or browned. (But don’t let it burn — the taste will be bitter.) The same is true of onions: Their flavor, and what they do to the sauce you use them in, will vary according to whether you add them in a raw state, or cooked till they are soft and translucent, or browned. And while we’re talking about garlic and onions, don’t forget the other, related memers of the lily family: shallots (whose flavor is a cross between garlic and onions, and which are more expensive than either of their two just-mentioned “cousins”), and leeks, generally even more expensive, and scallions, also known as green onions or spring onions.

What formats are your books in
eBook

How do you see writing a food/cookbook as different from writing other genres of books?
You have to have a love of cooking–and I do.

What advice would you give to someone that is thinking about or currently working on a food book or cookbook
The market is crowded, and most print publishers are publishing only “name” chefs and restaurateurs, food critics and columnists, and the like. I lucked out in getting my first cookbook (THE COOK-AHEAD COOKBOOK) accepted by a print publisher (the “Nitty-Gritty Cookbooks” imprint of Bristol Publishing) despite not being in any of the above categories, but since then, I have learned that e-publishers are far more receptive to non-“name” cookbook authors, and I have had several cookbooks published as e-books by XoXo Publishing. So if you’re not a food critic, columnist, restaurateur, or well-known chef, try an e-publisher for your book.

Author Bio:
Full-time freelance writer/editor Cynthia MacGregor has over 100 published books to her credit, roughly half of them published as print books and the remainder as e-books. She lives in South Florida with her Significant Other, works seven days a week, and loves what she does. She’s available for writing, editing, or ghostwriting assignments (contact her at Cynthia@cynthiamacgregor.com), and besides books has written articles, ads, plays, song lyrics, business materials, web copy, and more. She also edits books, magazines, websites, and other materials, and she has hosted a TV show (not a cooking show) and hopes to be back in front of the camera in the near future. She calls herself “prolific” but won’t argue if you say she’s “driven.” Cynthia says, “There’s no one in the world I’d want to trade lives with.”

What inspired you to write your book?
When my two oldest grandkids were younger, they had a wonderful interest in learning to cook (which granddaughter Tori still does). As well, my daughter used to ask me a plethora of cooking questions when she was first learning her way around the kitcchen. I realized there was a need for this kind of book, and at the time I started writing it, there were few books for novice cooks. There are more now, but I like to think mine is written with more of a sense of humor and a better sense of “I’ll be the friend at your side that you need as you navigate this unfamiliar world of cooking.”

About your Book:
Most people need to learn to cook at some point. You may have just left your mother’s “nest” and be out on your own for the first time. You may be recently divorced or widowed from the spouse who formerly did all the cooking in your household. You may be learning to cook for the first time at some other stage of your life and for some other reason. But if you don’t know what a garlic press is, don’t know the meaning of the term “parboil,” don’t know what foods go well with what foods, aren’t sure how long you can safely keep a particular food in the fridge, and feel helplessly lost with a stove in front of you, you need this book. LOST IN THE KITCHEN? will be the friend at your side that will guide you through your early efforts and give you confidence to try new recipes and new culinary challenges as you become more confident and more adventurous. There are even some step-by-step recipes included along with a wealth of other information.

Cuisine Style or Food Genre
Advice for novice cooks

Sample Recipe or Food Advice
Specialité de la maison
Learn to cook one impressive dish well. It can be a dish that’s impressive because a lot of work goes into it, or it might be something astoundingly easy yet astonishingly delicious. But master one dish and make it yours, then serve it fearlessly to guests.
Of course, you can’t serve the same dish every time you have guests…that is, not unless none of your guests ever returns for dinner on another occasion. (And if that’s the case, your cooking may need more help than this book can give…or, alternatively, you may need a new deodorant or mouthwash.)
But that all-important first impression will be virtually assured. (I say “virtually” because even the best cooks err occasionally—or buy an inferior piece of meat, causing their dinner to suffer. Or you might serve a flawless flounder but overcook the asparagus drastically and undercook the scalloped potatoes.)
So master one dish till you’re utterly comfortable with it. Serve it to all your guests on their first visit. Bask in the self-confidence you’ll have in knowing you’re serving a sure-fire, no-fail dinner. And worry about the next dinner later.

What formats are your books in
eBook

How do you see writing a food/cookbook as different from writing other genres of books?
You have to have a love of cooking–and I do.

What advice would you give to someone that is thinking about or currently working on a food book or cookbook
The market is crowded, and most print publishers are publishing only “name” chefs and restaurateurs, food critics and columnists, and the like. I lucked out in getting my first cookbook (THE COOK-AHEAD COOKBOOK) accepted by a print publisher (the “Nitty-Gritty Cookbooks” imprint of Bristol Publishing) despite not being in any of the above categories, but since then, I have learned that e-publishers are far more receptive to non-“name” cookbook authors, and I have had several cookbooks published as e-books by XoXo Publishing. So if you’re not a food critic, columnist, restaurateur, or well-known chef, try an e-publisher for your book.

Author Bio:
Full-time freelance writer/editor Cynthia MacGregor has over 100 published books to her credit, roughly half of them published as print books and the remainder as e-books. She lives in South Florida with her Significant Other, works seven days a week, and loves what she does. She’s available for writing, editing, or ghostwriting assignments (contact her at Cynthia@cynthiamacgregor.com), and besides books has written articles, ads, plays, song lyrics, business materials, web copy, and more. She also edits books, magazines, websites, and other materials, and she has hosted a TV show (not a cooking show) and hopes to be back in front of the camera in the near future. She calls herself “prolific” but won’t argue if you say she’s “driven.” Cynthia says, “There’s no one in the world I’d want to trade lives with.”

What inspired you to write your book?
I’m an event producer who was struggling with the economy and pretty depressed about where my life was at the moment. In 2009, I was visiting my family in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for Thanksgiving and my girlfriend told me her “Coconut Pie and a Bottle of Wine”, I told her this was a Monologue show, like the Vagina Monologues, but life stories about food. The idea snowballed and I produced 32 shows in restaurant venues in a year an a half in Louisiana, Mississippi and California with over 230 people sharing their food stories. The coffee table book published by Pelican Publishing has 67 of those stories with recipes and pictures.

About your Book:
MEANWHILE, BACK AT CAFÉ DU MONDE…, the popular, unique, and festive food monologue show presented by Louisiana foodie personalities is now a coffee table book published by Pelican Publishing in the September 2012.

Humorous and heartfelt, the personal food stories all have the common thread of food – our culture and relationships, personal life stories, restaurant experiences, past love affairs, and more. “We’ve all experienced the highs and lows of life, which mostly revolve around our food experiences,” says creator/producer Peggy Sweeney-McDonald. Everyone has their own “Café Du Monde” experience—the place where they know what they are ordering, they know it is delicious, and they know they are with good friends and family and for that hour, life is really wonderful!

Based on the MEANWHILE, BACK AT CAFÉ DU MONDE… live shows, these foodie monologues invoke your own special comfort foods, recalling tasty memories of life, love, family, and friends to warm your heart, feed your soul, and make you pause to savor the sweetness of life. Accompanied by recipes and candid photographs of the many people involved, from speakers to audience members, this book will be a treasure trove of delightful and delicious memories for all. Karen Benrud, a member of the Café Du Monde family of New Orleans, provides the foreword that celebrates the 150th anniversary of the landmark café and its history

Cuisine Style or Food Genre
Southern Food Essays and Recipes

Sample Recipe or Food Advice
My title monologue

MEANWHILE, BACK AT CAFÉ DU MONDE….
TAKING LIFE ONE BEIGNET AT A TIME
By Peggy Sweeney-McDonald

In May of 1992, I moved back to Louisiana with my New Yorker fiancé, Jimmy McDonald, who came to Louisiana kicking and screaming. He had told me 6 months before that I was “out of my mind if I thought he would move to fricken Louisiana” (that’s the PC version). Six months later, after lots of fights, tears and threats, Jimmy went out to Rockaway to talk to his Mother. She told him that if he couldn’t imagine his life without me, then that was his answer. As we left New York, we made a final important stop at the world famous Carnegie Deli to pick up one more mile high pastrami sandwich, sour dill pickles, coleslaw, spicy brown mustard and extra rye bread. As we drove through the Lincoln Tunnel, I took the giant sandwich apart, divided that hunk of steaming pastrami into two smaller sandwiches – easier to “inhale them” and headed south. This Southern Belle was coming home!

The first week in New Orleans, we found a great apartment in the warehouse district, got jobs, traded in the old Monte Carlo for a brand new Honda, and set a date for our wedding at St. Louis Cathedral with the reception at the Bourbon Orleans.

Six months later, with trumpets playing from the loft above, the big doors of the Cathedral opened up and on the arms of my Daddy, I sashayed down the aisle as only true southern belles can do, slowly stopping for pics when I saw my friends pointing a camera (No “rushing by” profile pics of me, please!!!). At that same moment, Jimmy, became overcome with emotion and had tears flowing down his face. His Dad got up from his pew and went up to hug his son. Everyone who witnessed this, couldn’t keep the tears back. After the wedding, we climbed into a white horse drawn carriage and headed to the reception. Lots of good creole food was served, Joe Simon’s jazz trio kept everyone on their feet second lining and dancing and the New Yorkers loved it!

Later that evening, we met all our friends at Pat O’Briens and around midnight, we all ended up at Café Du Monde stuffing our faces again, laughing at memories of the day and wiping powdered sugar off our faces, hands and clothes. As we were leaving we ran into Mike, a friend from New York. He and his wife, Lori, had decided this 3 day wedding was a 9 meal trip! No sightseeing for them, just the best restaurants in town. They had been to dinner at Brennans that night he was picking up beignets “to go”. They had started their day with beignets for breakfast before the wedding and had decided the day would not be complete if they didn’t finish it off with more beignets!

With all this great food around, I knew I needed to find a walking buddy and I did. Alden Lovelace, from Gulf Port, Mississippi, another true southern belle, dripping from the magnolias. We would walk briskly over to the Aquarium, down the River Walk, around Jackson Square and back. The smell of beignets would hit us as we passed Café Du Monde. The first time she said, “Smell the Beignets… I could eat a dozen of them”. I responded, “Yes, it’s heavenly….. I think of them as little “pillows of decadence” and one of these days we should bring some money, stop and order some to go.” Although we craved that indulgence, we realized that would kind of defeat the purpose of the early morning walks. Instead, we’d walk discussing our favorite New Orleans restaurants and recipes. In Louisiana, it makes so much sense to power walk and talk about food. I remember one recipe she shared with me an “Easy Delicious Crawfish Pasta” made with pasta, a bag of crawfish tales, a can of rotel and a block of Velveeta cheese. She told me her guests flipped out over it and all but licked the pot clean. They begged her for her recipe but she claimed it was a secret Lovelace family recipe. She laughed as she told me that the most important thing to remember about making this recipe is to make sure hide the Velveeta packaging and Rotel can deep in the trash can.

Funny thing about Alden and this recipe is that years later, she married world famous New Orleans chef, Emeril Lagasse (we went to their wedding reception, but that’s another great food monologue). To this day I have wondered if she ever shared her secret crawfish pasta recipe with Emeril!
Anytime we went out in the quarter, we would always end our adventure at Café Du Monde. We never discussed it. It was calling our name…. Even if we had just finished a big dinner at NOLA, sandwiches from Masperos, jambalaya from The Napoleon House, or gumbo from The Gumbo Shop, we were headed to our place. Even full, we could always find room to throw down a few beignets and that yummy delicious coffee au lait.

At one point, Café Du Monde started making Iced Au Laits! If you haven’t dipped a hot, sugary beignet in an iced cool Au Lait on a hot sticky day, you haven’t lived the whole Café Du Monde experience. It takes those little “pillows of decadence” to a whole new level. File it away for your next trip down to da Quarter!

Six years later, my wander lust kicked in and I decided it was time to move to Los Angeles. Jimmy’s response – “Your fricken kidding me, right?” He had fallen in love with Louisiana and the great food. However, being a very manipulative and persuasive southern belle, he finally gave in. Before moving away to Los Angeles, we ended up back at Café Du Monde and I lifted my coffee cup toasting my friends and said, “Meanwhile, Back at Café Du Monde….” and we all started laughing. The next time we were there, I said the same thing and Jimmy and friends joined in by the time I got to “Café Du Monde” and I think we clinked cups on the Dot, Dot, Dot. And then I said, “One Day that will be the name of a book, movie or play” . So here we are 13 years later, back home in Louisiana, creating a festive event by celebrating all of our food experiences.

No matter what happens in my life, no matter where I live, I always end up at Café Du Monde, you know what to expect, you know what we are ordering – those little pillows of decadence, we know how it will taste – delish, we know we can afford it – cheapest food in New Orleans, we know it’s open and we know we are having a great time with good friends or family, life is wonderful and for a brief hour, we are totally in the moment… yes, we are living life one beignet at a time. So lift your glass, pretend it’s one of those famous white porcelain mugs and join me in saying…..”Meanwhile, Back
At Café Du Monde….”

What formats are your books in
Print

How do you see writing a food/cookbook as different from writing other genres of books?
This was a learn as you go experience with lots of ups and downs. I had never thought about writing a book before. I had the idea for the coffee table book of the stories from the shows when I was getting ready to go on stage for the first show. I was in the gift shop/kitchen of the Myrtles Plantation and there were coffee table books on a table for sale. I thought to myself, “This would be a great book with the stories, recipes and pictures”, I turned one of the books over and saw Pelican Publishing had published that book. I invited Pelican Publishing to come to a New Orleans show the next month as I knew they would be a good fit. They came to the show, loved it and gave me a book deal. Soon I had a literary agent, entertainment attorney and was learning the ropes of a book contract. Gathering material from 67 people (stories, recipes, pictures and the releases) was a huge task and then editing, marketing and promotion. Now I’m in the midst of book launch parties, book tour and it is very overwhelming but thrilling. I’m trying to stay centered, focused, excited and enjoy the ride. It has been an amazing journey. The book has been hitting #1 on Amazon (Hot New Releases-Louisiana books) for months in pre-sales and now consistently since it came out. We are getting lots of press inquiries from across the country and people are loving it! We have received great reviews and endorsements from famous New Orleans chefs, Emeril and John Besh, as well as Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jeffrey Marx.

What advice would you give to someone that is thinking about or currently working on a food book or cookbook
I would definitely research the book business and talk to other authors first and get a mentor! I learned the hard way! It is a full time job! I’m lucky I have a husband who has been very supportive and my family in Louisiana have all been so helpful. My event producing has basically taken a back-burner position so financially it has been challenging! However, I wouldn’t trade it for anything as it has been so rewarding.

How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
It’s published through Pelican Publishing.

Author Bio:
Creator/Editor
Peggy Sweeney-McDonald, President of Superstar Events-L.A & Creator/Producer of “Meanwhile, Back At Café Du Monde…”shows and Creator/Editor of the Meanwhile, Back At Café Du Monde…Life Stories About Food coffee table book featuring 67 of the Louisiana food stories, recipes and pictures published by Pelican Publishing. She grew up in Baton Rouge and resides in Los Angeles with her husband, James McDonald. Her high level of creativity produces unique and memorable red carpet, non-profit and corporate events. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University and worked in film, theatre, commercials as an actress for more than 25 years. She is developing southern film projects, including a television pilot of the “Meanwhile,…” show. She recently was the Associate Producer of the acclaimed play addressing human trafficking, Innocent Flesh, at the Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Websites: www.meanwhilebackatcafedumonde.com and www.peggysweeneymcdonald.com

What inspired you to write your book?
I am considered a leading authority on aphrodisiac foods. Six years ago, I wrote a cookbook on the topic that offered an introduction to the science and folklore of aphrodisiacs in a fun and playful manner. But the interest and food savvy of the American public has evolved since my first book, Fork Me, Spoon Me was released. I became more challenged by interviewers and audiences to offer in-depth information on aphrodisiacs. At the same time, the interest and awareness by the general public in food and health grew and I felt it was time to write a book that shared the importance of eating for sexual health without losing the importance of romance and, of course, the whimsy of the topic.

About your Book:
The sequel to critically acclaimed Fork Me, Spoon Me, this spicy cookbook is your manual to romance whether you’re in the kitchen or the bedroom. From defining and demystifying aphrodisiac foods to illustrating the many ways in which aphrodisiacs can work for you, Romancing the Stove will have you falling deeply into love… with food!

Studies have shown that a box of chocolates is considered one of the most romantic of all gifts. So imagine presenting your lover with a box of chocolates made by hand… by your hands. You won’t even need the libido-boosting attributes of these tiny treats! But for your body’s sake, I’ve filled them with aphrodisiac fruits and rolled them in antioxidant-rich cocoa. I’ve also cut some of the fat by using half and half instead of cream–you won’t even miss it but your arteries might!

1. Grate chocolate or cut it into chip-sized pieces. (You can also use a premium chocolate chip.)
2. Heat half and half over medium high heat to a near boil. (Don’t let it boil.)
3. Remove pan from heat and whisk in the chocolate, stirring until the mixture is completely smooth.
4. Cool in the refrigerator for about 3-4 hours (or overnight), until chocolate mixture has set.
5. Using a teaspoon, scoop cooled chocolate and form a ball, pressing 1 or 2 pieces of fruit into the center. (Don’t waste your time trying to form your truffles into perfect spheres. A slightly uneven surface screams, “I rolled these chocolates with my own bare hands, expressly for your pleasure.”) If the truffles wont hold shape, refrigerate chocolate mixture for another hour.
6. Cool the formed truffles in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes.
7. Roll each truffle in cocoa powder. Truffles will be soft but if they are so soft that the cocoa is absorbed, store in the refrigerator.

Truffles can be stored in a cool, dry place for up to 5 days.

*You can use any dark chocolate bar or bittersweet baking chocolate to make this recipe, but we recommend using a chocolate that has at least 70% cocoa (look for one that tells the percentage on the label).

What formats are your books in
Both

How do you see writing a food/cookbook as different from writing other genres of books?
Cookbook writing requires a technical knowledge far beyond that of writing general fiction or non-fiction. The ability to concisely write recipes, not to mention the process of testing, requires well-honed skills and an important culinary foundation.

What advice would you give to someone that is thinking about or currently working on a food book or cookbook
I think it is important to consider the marketing side of the work first. The cookbook genre is a crowded market however there is always room for a skillfully written work. Just make sure you find an angle that sets your book apart from the pack and consider the avenues you will travel to get the word out about your book.

How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I was working with an editor at a highly respected, traditional publisher but upon his advice, I self published my first book. I was fortunate to have found a book designer with over 30 years experience at some of New York’s biggest publishing houses. In addition to using her design talent, I used her contacts to land a national distribution deal. The success of that book, Fork Me, Spoon Me: the sensual cookbook allowed me to found my own publishing company. We now have four titles on the market and are distributed in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.

Author Bio:
Amy Reiley has been recognized as a leading authority on aphrodisiac foods by publications as varied as National Geographic and theLondon Times. Creator of EatSomethingSexy.com, she was the second American to earn a Master’s Degree in Gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu, focusing her dissertation on the relationship between food and sex in American pop culture.

Reiley has appeared as an aphrodisiacs expert on television and radio programs from The Today Show to NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! She has also been a guest on various food-related television specials, including two series on Playboy TV–you’ll recognize her as the one wearing clothing.

In addition to her quirky niche, Reiley is noted as an internationally published wine journalist and critic. She consults with wineries and restaurants on pairings, cocktail development and aphrodisiac-inspired events. The founder of Life of Reiley, Amy is the proud publisher of niche market cookbooks, including the critically acclaimed Fork Me, Spoon Me: the sensual cookbook and Amazon bestseller, Kiss My Bundt.

What inspired you to write your book?
My 5 year old would frequently complain that he hated the food we served – even if he had eaten it and loved it a week ago. We realized he just couldn’t keep track of the foods he liked, so we encouraged him to start keeping track. Since he is still learning to write, we encouraged him to draw pictures. Now when I serve baked beans and he says “I don’t like them!” we pull out his notebook, point to his drawings of baked beans, and he eats them with no complaint!

About your Book:
Hey kids – see that new food on your plate? Give it a try and then grab your Food Notebook and get to work. You can draw the food, circle the face that shows how you feel about the food and color in a star for trying it! This simple idea will work wonders for families with so-called picky eaters.

Cuisine Style or Food Genre
Kids & Families

Sample Recipe or Food Advice
What many parents think is pickiness is just forgetfulness in children who simply cannot remember if they’ve tried or liked a food before. After trying a food (new or not) kids can journal about the food, draw a picture, list a Flavor Buddy (like ketchup or parmesan cheese), circle the face that expresses their feelings about the food, and color in a star for every time they’ve tried it! Research shows that trying a new food about 10 times really gives children a chance to understand if they like it – and this great book gives kids a chance to express their feelings constructively and end dinner time battles.

What formats are your books in
Print

How do you see writing a food/cookbook as different from writing other genres of books?
This book isn’t a story but actively engages children. I expect to make revisions to this book as I learn from parents and children!

What advice would you give to someone that is thinking about or currently working on a food book or cookbook
Experiment, listen and revise!

How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I self-published. I knew I had a great idea and wanted to own the marketing and design aspects of this book. I feel it’s really a reflection of our family’s style (we like to try new things) and I did want to keep this close to my heart. I would advise new authors to get many quotes, plan to spend a decent amount of money on an excellent graphic designer, and get lots of advice before you push forward.

Author Bio:
Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan is a writer, reader, runner, wife and mother of 3. She’s a freelance writer and social media manager from Pittsburgh, PA and the author of “The Bumpy, Grumpy Road” and “My Food Notebook.” Elizabeth and her family love to try new things – this summer Elizabeth tried triathlons and knitting!

What inspired you to write your book?
Food and memories just naturally go together. People have an affinity for food that goes way beyond mere sustenance. I wanted to collect from as many people as I could the memories their hearts held of the significant foods and food events from their lifetimes, whether recent or long past.

About your Book:
Food is more than just mere nourishment. It holds a special place in the lives of all of us. Food + memories = heartsongs. Heartsongs are the reverberations we feel within our souls when a taste, a smell, or simply a reminiscence tugs at our heartstrings. Food is the trigger to remind us, whether it’s the taste of Mom’s meatloaf or apple pie, Aunt Sylvia’s signature dish with its distinctive aroma, or the sight of that photo of your wedding cake. (Whether or not the marriage lasted, the memories always do.) This book is a collection of memories associated with food that folks from all across the country were kind enough to share. Some are funny, some are warm, some are bittersweet. All of the memories touched their retellers’ heartstrings. They’ll touch yours, too.

Cuisine Style or Food Genre
A book about food (not a cookbook)

Sample Recipe or Food Advice
contributor: Warren Tabachnick:

One of my favorite childhood memories is of Sunday night meals in Chinatown. On Sunday nights, my parents would load us up in the car—we were a family of six—and we’d head down to Montreal’s Chinatown for some Chinese food. We had a favorite spot—Jasmine’s on La Gauchetiere Street. Their brand of egg rolls came with a sweet and savory plum sauce (what’s referred to in the States as “duck sauce”) that was accented with hint of cinnamon.
My mom would take charge, and with a pen she’d map out the meal plan: “Dinner for four people, for six,” I think she’d say. We’d feast on everything from Chicken Soo Guy (breaded chicken with lemon), Pineapple Chicken, and Chicken Chow Mein Cantonese style, to chicken fried rice. The meal would be capped by almond cookies, which would be washed down with Coke (in those 6-ounce bottles). Needless to say we left satisfied and well fed, as we made our way on the thirty-minute drive back to the ’burbs.
I remember my mom once asking a Jasmine’s waiter, “What province is this food from?” To which he replied, “The Province of Quebec!” Priceless. In reality, as I discovered years later when I sampled some better-quality Chinese food in New York, that food was the equivalent of supermarket-grade Chinese. Nevertheless, those times had contributed to the overall feeling of comfort and security my parents had built for us.

What formats are your books in: eBook

How do you see writing a food/cookbook as different from writing other genres of books?
You have to have a love of cooking–and I do.

What advice would you give to someone that is thinking about or currently working on a food book or cookbook
The market is crowded, and most print publishers are publishing only “name” chefs and restaurateurs, food critics and columnists, and the like. I lucked out in getting my first cookbook (THE COOK-AHEAD COOKBOOK) accepted by a print publisher (the “Nitty-Gritty Cookbooks” imprint of Bristol Publishing) despite not being in any of the above categories, but since then, I have learned that e-publishers are far more receptive to non-“name” cookbook authors, and I have had several cookbooks published as e-books by XoXo Publishing. So if you’re not a food critic, columnist, restaurateur, or well-known chef, try an e-publisher for your book.

Author Bio:
Full-time freelance writer/editor Cynthia MacGregor has over 100 published books to her credit, roughly half of them published as print books and the remainder as e-books. She lives in South Florida with her Significant Other, works seven days a week, and loves what she does. She’s available for writing, editing, or ghostwriting assignments (contact her at Cynthia@cynthiamacgregor.com), and besides books has written articles, ads, plays, song lyrics, business materials, web copy, and more. She also edits books, magazines, websites, and other materials, and she has hosted a TV show (not a cooking show) and hopes to be back in front of the camera in the near future. She calls herself “prolific” but won’t argue if you say she’s “driven.” Cynthia says, “There’s no one in the world I’d want to trade lives with.”

Set primarily against the backdrop of the turbulent Sixties and early Seventies, Siren’s Feast, An Edible Odyssey, tells the tale of a rebellious daughter who foregoes the safety and security of suburban American life and sets off on an adventure that leads her to some of the remote outposts of the world. As a first generation Armenian-American, whose family narrowly survived a genocide, the constant that remains with her is a passion for food and cooking-the remembered flavors of home, tradition and lives long forgotten.

During her seven year odyssey, she encounters mystery and magic in Morocco, has a romantic idyll on the Emerald Coast of Sardinia, establishes the first vegetarian restaurant on the island of Ibiza in Spain (today the party capital of the world), journeys to the East in search of love and enlightenment in the Himalayas and, during a stint as a cabaret dancer in Aleppo, Syria, falls in love with a Bedouin gypsy, resulting in the birth of a daughter. A series of mishaps leads to her sixteen-month incarceration, along with her baby, in an infamous London prison, where she manages, even there, to pioneer a new and healthy way of eating.

The journey comes full circle when she returns home and finds her true purpose and meaningful work through an enigmatic teacher of an ancient healing art and comes to understand the value of family, friends and true spiritual nourishment.

Siren’s Feast contains over 40 mouth-watering recipes, representing well-tested originals as well as old family recipes.

Author Bio:
Nancy Mehagian has been involved with food and healing since 1969, when she opened the first vegetarian restaurant on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, she attended USC and graduated with a degree in English Literature from Arizona State University.

With a passionate interest in the diets and customs of those who live close to the earth, Nancy has traveled extensively. In 1975 Mary Burmeister, the only living master of the ancient Japanese healing art of Jin Shin Jyutsu, became her life-long mentor. Since 1978, Nancy has maintained an active Massage Therapy and Jin Shin Jyutsu practice in Los Angeles. She accompanied Quincy Jones on his Jook Joint Tour and was the Massage Therapist for the Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over World Tour.

Nancy is the author of THE SUPERNATURAL KIDS COOKBOOK and co-author of THE OPRAH EFFECT. She lives, cooks and gardens in Studio City, CA.

The Truth about Olive Oil is NOT a cook book. There are no recipes for cooking in the Mediterranean style. There are no pizza recipes.

If anything, you could say this book is about a celebration of the benefits the lowly little olive showers on those who embrace its many flavors and colors by using it – both internally (by eating it) and externally (by rubbing it on their skin and in their hair). Its health giving benefits (anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties) are legendary and can be traced back to its earliest uses well before the time of Christ.

In the pages of this book, I hope to stimulate further interest in the use of olives and olive oil by presenting various “how to do it” scenarios that are practical and fun. For instance, making table olives is an easy and fun thing to do that takes very little actual “doing” on your part. Most of the curing time can be spent by your doing other things while the curing medium does the job of making the fruit edible. I provide specific instructions on how to do this.

And what about getting olives from your own tree(s) pressed so you can enjoy home-grown olive oil? You might think that only commercial growers can do this. Well, I found two commercial olive oil processors who will accept your smaller loads of olives, combine them with other small loads, do the pressing and the bottling and return the resultant oil to you on a prorated basis.

In addition, I tell you about the various grades of olive oil and what they mean to you in terms of their nutritional value. I think you’ll be quite surprised at what you discover.

The external uses of olive oil (and some internal uses as well) all involve using this liquid as a form of folk remedy. It’s a skin lotion to soothe rough chapped elbows or lips; it’s a diaper rash cure; it’s a massage oil for easing aches and pains; it’s a lot of things and we’ve only just scratched the surface. There are more inside the book.

What you’ll get out of reading this book is a greater appreciation for this elixir that can enhance your life and health in ways you may never even have thought of.